First Day of Caching in Tupelo, MS 4/16/2008

Well we loaded up 10 caches in the GPS and set out with Raggs and Muffy to see what we could find. Our first cache was a virtual cache along the Natchez Trace north of where we are staying, so we drove up to mile marker 278.4 and a cache located at the historic site Twentymile Bottom. Twentymile Bottom, now cultivated, was typical of the many low areas along streams through which the Natchez Trace passed. In 1812 Reverend John Johnson stopped at Old Factors Stand, near this bottom, and wrote this account of bottomland travel: "I have this day swam my horse 5 times, bridged 1 creek, forded several others, besides the swamp we had to wade through. At night we had a shower of rain-took up my usual lodging on the ground in company of several Indians". We got the answers to the 3 questions and we were on our way to the next cache.
The next cache was also along the Trace at mile marker 275.2 at Dogwood Valley. Flowering dogwood is a common small tree throughout the Eastern United States from Maine and Michigan south to Texas and Florida. Here the Natchez Trace passes through a small valley with an unusual stand of large dogwood trees. There was a short trail leading through this stand of trees and we found the cache just off the trail.
Then it was off the Trace and on to a old unused power station and a cache behind that, then it was on to Lamar Bruce Park and a cache along the water. This park does have camping sites available and the fishing is great. Lots of ducks and geese and we even saw a great blue heron. The lake was very lovely also and very quiet. We drove into Saltilo and a cache in a small park along a walking trail, then we drove to a local golf course in Tupelo, Bel Air, and a cache near one of the fairways.
Then back on the Trace and off to mile marker 261.8 The Chickasaw Village Site. The cache was located again along a walking trail through the woods and we bet the other people that saw us really wondered what we were doing wandering through the woods. The Chickasaw Nation tribe, population about 2000, lived in the "Chickasaw Old Fields" a small natural prairie near Tupelo, MS. Although their villages occupied an area of less than 20 square miles, the Chickasaw claimed, and hunted over, a vast region in northern Mississippi and Alabama and western Tennessee and Kentucky. The Chickasaw were closely related to the Choctaw, Creek, and Natchez as well as some of the smaller tribes of the Mississippi Valley. DeSoto's followers were the first Europeans to see the Chickasaw, with whom they fought a bloody battle in 1541. The Chickasaw, after ceding the last of their ancestral lands to the United States, moved in 1837-47 to Oklahoma to become one of the "Five Civilized Tribes". At this site once stood a Chickasaw Village of several homes and a fort. In summer they lived in rectangular well ventilated houses and in winter round houses with plastered walls. In times of danger everybody, warriors, women, children, sought shelter in strongly fortified stockades. The original foundations of 4 of these structures are overlaid with concrete curb as you can see in the pictures. The English-French Conflict, 1700-1763, after the founding of Louisiana fought 4 wars for control of North America. The Chickasaw became allies of the British who used them as a spearhead to oppose French expansion. This tribe with British help not only remained independent, but threatened French shipping on the Mississippi. The French conquered or made allies of all the tribes along the Mississippi, except the Chickasaw. They made great efforts to destroy this tribe, sending powerful forces against them in 1736 and in 1741, and incited the Choctaw and other tribes to do likewise. The Chickasaw remained resisted, and remained a thorn in the side of France until she, in 1763, lost all her North American possessions. The French-Chickasaw War in 1736 threatened communications between Louisiana and Canada and urged the Choctaw to trade with the English. Bienville decided to destroy the Chickasaw tribe. In 1735 he ordered a column of French and Indians, led by Pierre d'Artaguette, from Illinois, to meet him near Tupelo. Bienville, leading a French army, joined by the Choctaws, proceeded, via Mobile, up the Tombigbee. Arriving at the Chickasaw villages, May 25, 1736, he saw nothing of d'Artaquette. D'Artaquette was dead. Two months earlier the Chickasaw had defeated and killed him and forced his followers to flee. Ignorant of d'Artaquette's defeat, Bienville attacked the fortified village of Ackia, May 26, 1736. Bloodily repulsed, he withdrew to Mobile, leaving the Chickasaw more dangerous than ever. Corn was the Chickasaws' staple food: but they found many uses for the native plants growing nearby. The Chickasaws winter house was built of a stout frame of logs and they covered it with a layer of oak or hickory splints, six or seven inches of clay and a thick thatch of long grass. The entrance hall, along the outside wall was low and narrow, to impede winds and invading enemies. The fort was an enclosure of stout logs set at an angle sloping inward. Crouched in a trench inside the wall, the Chickasaws shot at attackers through ground-level slits. The fort idea probably suggested by the British to combat another European "import":siege tactics. Trader Adair wrote that the Chickasaws could erect a summer house in one day, using no tools but a hatchet and knife. A cypress shingle roof, pine or cypress clapboard walls, and a covering of bark held on with lashed-on made a shelter ".....the side and gables which are bullet proof. For winter warmth a fire was built each day on the floor to furnish heat through the night. The British trader, Adair, reported that, "While the new fire is burning down, the house, for want of air, is full of heat and smoky darkness; and all this time a number of them lie on their broad bed with their heads wrapped up". We did find the cache quickly and walked back to the car and went back to the RV.
We got back about lunch time so we ate and then I shaved and showered and Mom did the logs for the caches. We did a few things around the RV and then it was time for dinner. We ate and cleaned up and I am finishing the blog and watching the Yankee -Red Sox game. Well time to sign off for today and until tomorrow we love you all and miss you.


Picture List: 1,2,3,4,5-Information Boards,6-Winter House site, 7-Summer House site, 8-Winter Warmth site, 9-Fort site, 10-Twentymile Bottom, 11-Dogwood Valley, 12-Lamar Bruce Lake.